Red and Black
by Verdreht
Summary: Adam and Rocky are both friends. Both want more, but both think they're the only one. A take on how their relationship progresses through the episodes...too bad Zedd and Rita aren't they're only problems. AdRock slash
1. Goldar's Vice Versa pt 1

Episode: During Episode 89, "Goldar's Vice-Versa"

"Aisha, are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Rocky. He felt like his chest was going to explode just thinking about it; he didn't want to know what would happen if he actually tried to _do_ it.

Aisha just rolled her eyes at her friend. "Rocky, you've been thinking about this for years. You're really going to chicken out now?"

"Well when you put it like that…" Actually, Rocky was still considering doing just that. But Aisha had a point. He'd been thinking about this since his junior high years. He'd actually almost worked up the courage a couple of weeks ago, after the scare with Lord Zedd. He could still remember it clearly: the cool dank atmosphere of the cave, the smell of must and mildew that surrounded them. Worse yet, he could still see the barely-concealed fear in his friends' eyes. They'd all had chafe marks on their wrists for days after that; Adam's were the worst, courtesy of his constant squirming. Rocky had never been so terrified in his life, if he were being perfectly honest. The thought of being forced to serve the skin-lite evildoer still managed to churn his stomach.

When they got out of there, he made his resolution to finally do it. He and Aisha had spent days planning it. It was going to be perfect: after the triathlon, he and Adam were going to go camping. They'd be all alone for days, nothing but them and the beautiful outdoors. It would be chilly out, so he'd start a campfire, and he and Adam would be huddled up in front of it, and _that_ was when he'd tell him.

_Adam, we've been best friends for almost our whole lives, right? We've done so many things together, and you know I care about you, right? The thing is, though, Adam, I _really_ care for you. More than as a best friend or a brother. I guess what I'm trying to say is…I love you, Adam._

That was exactly how he'd say it, too, and the number of times he'd rehearsed the line was a secret that would stay between him and his bathroom mirror. Only, the triathlon hadn't gone quite as planned. Ranger business had gotten in the way big time, and for the first week after they'd become Rangers, Rocky had hardly had time to think about it. Not to say he hadn't thought about _Adam_ – no, he'd spent more than enough time on and off the battle field worrying about the younger teen – he just hadn't thought it was the best time to…_advance_ their friendship. And besides, if Adam turned him down (which Rocky had accepted he probably would) he didn't want to risk it distracting them and endangering them or their friends.

Of course, then came an interesting opportunity that, according to Aisha, Rocky couldn't pass up: the Angel Grove High School dance. As soon as she had suggested it, Rocky pointed out the obvious – that it was a "vise-versa" dance. The girls were meant to ask the guys, and Rocky was _obviously_ not a girl, so he couldn't ask his guy. Never mind the fact that Adam would probably have more offers than he knew what to do with; the guy had the sort of subtle beauty and sensitive almond eyes that drove the girls mad.

"Then you _want_ to see him dancing with some girl?" Aisha had retorted, and he'd had to concede the point. No, he did not, in fact, want to see Adam dancing with some girl. "So do something about it, big boy." She was a lot more confident than Rocky was that Adam would return his feelings.

Which led them to where they were now, huddled up outside the Youth Center before one of Rocky's karate demonstrations with Adam.

"Here's what you're going to do," she began, and with a grin of devilish glee, she explained her master plot to him. According to her, it was foolproof, and since Rocky didn't have any better ideas, he was going to go along with it. Aisha would see to it.

A glance at his watch showed that it was just about time to be meeting Adam, so with a last farewell to Aisha (and a promise that he would follow the plan) he jogged into the Youth Center to meet his friend.

Punctual as ever, Adam was already waiting for him on the mats. As Rocky came to join him, he tried not to let himself think about how good he looked in that incredibly tight black tank top he was wearing, or how happy he was to be wearing loose pants.

"About time," Adam chuckled, his grin crinkling the corners of his gorgeous almond-shaped eyes. "I thought you'd never show up."

"Hey, I'm not that late!" Rocky protested indignantly. The grin on his own face probably weakened the effect a little bit, though.

"Of course not. What was I thinking?" Adam replied. Rocky caught him roll his eyes amusedly, before the younger teen assumed his stance. "Ready to start?" he asked.

Rocky fell into his own stance immediately. "Whenever you are," Rocky said. He barely had time to blink before Adam started moving, and just like that, the demonstration was on.

As Adam dodged out of the way of Rocky's last roundhouse kick, they both seemed in silent agreement that they were done. Rocky favored him with a smile, and was pleased to see Adam return it in kind as they clapped each other on the shoulders. The small crowd that had formed started to disperse, and together, they turned away from it and headed towards Billy.

"Hey Billy," said Rocky.

Beside him Adam continued, a little out of breath. "Hey Billy, you missed the demonstration."

"I know, I'm sorry," Billy said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I had a meeting with the Vice-Versa dance committee."

Rocky couldn't help the spark of excitement that flared at the mention of the dance. "You know," he said, "that's gonna be a blast." That, or a catastrophe, but he was working on his optimism today. Of course, to keep up appearances, he continued, "It's about time the girls had to ask the guys to a dance," as they walked up the stairs towards the Juice Bar.

They chose the first table they came to, and Rocky pulled out his own chair at the middle. "Who are you going with?" Adam asked, pulling out the chair to Rocky's left.

"Jessica Peterson," Rocky lied smoothly. He hadn't been altogether sold on the idea of lying to his best friend, but Aisha said the surprise would make it worth it. "Man, I can't believe she asked me."

"How about you, Adam?" Billy asked. Rocky was glad the older boy had asked, because the suspense was killing him. He had already imagined that Adam would have a date to the dance, and planned accordingly, but he still wanted to know who his competition was.

To his surprise, though, Adam pulled a face, his nose scrunching up and the corners of his lips pulling down like it always did when he was embarrassed about something. "I don't think I'm going," he said finally.

Rocky had to fight to keep his jaw from hitting his folded arms. "Why not?" he asked, fighting to keep his voice casual, and of course a little concerned.

Adam dropped his gaze to the table, briefly, before raising it. "Well," he muttered, "no one's asked me. And I don't think anyone's going to."

Once again, Rocky's jaw seemed to be the victim of a gravity surge, and it was all he could do to keep his face schooled as Billy started talking.

"Don't feel bad, Adam," he said. "No one's invited me yet, either."

That seemed to bring a little bit of light back to Adam's face, and Rocky reminded himself to thank the genius later.

Of course, at right about that moment, a girl in pig tails and a plaid jumper came up breathlessly behind Billy. Rocky knew what she was about to say even before she opened her mouth, and he cringed as the two spoke privately for a moment. Rocky could see that little bit of light fading from Adam's face again, and he forced a smile, bumping him reassuringly on the arm. If nothing else, he could keep him pleasantly distracted, and he pointed to Bulk and Skull at the table behind Adam. The two were crouched over a small army's worth of junk food, hiding their faces as the school's resident punk girls came running in.

"Hey, what's wrong, Bulk?" he asked as the two girls started calling out some rather embarrassing nicknames for all the world to hear. Why people thought that attaching –poo to the end of someone's name made them sound cute, Rocky would never know, but he was going to use this to his advantage to cheer Adam up. After all, what could be more uplifting than seeing Bulk and Skull get harassed by the only two people in school that were _weirder_ than they were?

"They want to ask _us_ to the dance," Bulk replied without turning around. "We should go, Skull."

"Oh. Yeah." Skull chuckled nervously. "Wouldn't want to be late for detention, you know." As they made their quick escape, their two hunters spotted them, and Adam had to lean in towards Rocky to keep from getting butt-bumped out of his seat by the bigger of the two.

The distraction only lasted until Billy returned, though. His grin told all as he resumed his seat. "Hey guys," he said, "Laura just asked me to the dance."

Rocky could literally _feel_ the dark cloud settle deeper around his best friend, but he forced a smile for Billy's sake. "Hey," he said approvingly.

"Looks like I'm the only one without a date," Adam muttered miserably. The smile on Rocky's face fell as he watched his friend sink lower in his chair. "Even Bulk and Skull are going, if those girls ever catch them."

"Don't worry, Adam. Someone will ask you." That much he could promise. Whether or not he would actually want to _go_ with this someone, or (more likely) punch him in the face and run the other way, was a question that Adam would have to answer for himself.

His assurance fell on deaf ears, though. "I gotta get going," Adam said, and pushed up from the table. Rocky had to fight to keep himself in his chair; part of him wanted to jump up and ask Adam right there, just to get that kicked puppy look off his face, but Aisha's warning rang clear in his head and kept him grounded. "Later, guys."

"See ya," Billy muttered. He glanced at Rocky as Adam left the Youth Center, and all Rocky could muster was a shrug.

As school began the next day, it was time for Aisha to commence the next step of her brilliant scheme. She'd spent too long watching both her friends cast sidelong looks at each other, and frankly, she was tired of choking on the sexual tension. And besides, it was time for the two of them to be happy, and who better to set that up than the master-matchmaker herself?

This part of the plan required her to find Adam, so after checking in all his usual haunts, she was forced to wait until a few minutes before the bell. Sure enough, right on time, Adam made it to his locker right as Aisha was coming down the hall.

"Adam!" she said. "Do you have a date for the dance yet?" She made sure to keep her smile down to an only slightly blinding so as not to alarm the more skittish of her two companions. All the same, he looked uncomfortable, tinkering with the book in his hands.

"No," he admitted, keeping his eyes trained on some random page of the book. See, like she said: skittish. "I think I'll just stay home that night and catch up on my reading."

As miserable as he sounded, Aisha was pleased. Her plan was going better than she'd imagined; Adam not having a date already eliminated one of her scheme's biggest complications. "Not if I have anything to do with it," she said, and then it was time to sell the set-up. "You know Sarah Dias? She plays on the volleyball team?"

"Yeah, she's beautiful," Adam said. He was genuine enough, but Aisha could've laughed at the naïveté. Poor Adam, thinking he could pull the wool over _her_ eyes. "And really smart, too," he continued. Poor little lamb had no idea he'd been made. Well, he was going to come out of that closet, if Aisha had to drag him out by his cute, curly hair.

"I happen to know for a fact that she thinks you're cute," she said. Sell, sell, sell.

Adam snorted. "Yeah, right," he said, and promptly averted his attention to his locker. As if she wouldn't be able to see the blush on his face. It never ceased to amaze her how a boy as _pretty_ as Adam could be so shy all the time, but pay him the slightest of compliments, and he lit up like a tomato. And if it was _Rocky _paying the compliment…well, stop lights had nothing on him.

"I'm serious!" she protested. "I bet if you go to her volleyball practice after school, she'll ask you to the dance." Little did Adam know that there would be someone else waiting at the park. Sure, Sarah really did have a crush on Adam, but it was bros before hoes, and Rocky had dibs on the adorable Asian.

"Really?" Adam asked.

Aisha stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Trust me," she said. "I know these things."

Adam seemed to think for a moment, and Aisha could imagine the mental sparring match going on in his head. He had to keep up appearances, and he didn't want to be the only guy on the team that didn't have a date for the dance. She knew that it was a risky move; if things didn't play out the way she'd planned, Rocky and Adam would both probably be dateless and down, but she was confident in her mad skills. This _had_ to work.

Adam made his way through the park that afternoon, his heart thumping in his chest so loudly he could hardly hear the birds. As he reached the top of the hill, he caught sight of his target. There sat Sarah, studying after her practice at on the hillside.

"There she is," he said to himself. He still wasn't sure he wanted to do this. He knew that he didn't want to be the only guy without a date to the dance, but he hardly even knew Sarah. He'd seen her a couple of times in the hall, and had class with her before, but he definitely didn't like her enough to ask her out. Granted, she would be doing the asking, but still…he didn't want to _dance_ with her or anything, and that was what people did at dances. He would much rather be dancing with—

He shook his head. "She's just a human being," he told himself. She wasn't some scary monster, and this was just a dance, not a lifetime commitment. If nothing else, it would keep Rocky from suspecting anything. He hadn't exactly been subtle with his disappointment when he'd heard Rocky was going with that Jessica girl. Of course he'd get the prettiest girl in school; well, next to Kim, and of course Tommy had firsts on her.

He tried to convince himself that it was a good idea. "A pretty, smart, athletic, _female_ human being." Pretty much everything his parents _wouldn't_ disown him for asking out.

Just as he worked himself up enough to go talk to her, though, he heard something. Turning on his heels, he saw a troupe of Putties appear. He couldn't keep the miserable groan back. "Aw man, not now," he grumbled. Seriously, did these guys ever take a vacation? Regrettably, it wasn't like he could ignore them. Better to get this over with quick, and maybe Sarah would still be there.

He made quick work of the goons – to be fair, they got in their share of punches too, particularly one to his gut that knocked the air out of him and left his stomach aching sharply – and hurried over to the crest of the hill.

Only to sigh. "I don't believe this," he muttered. It was like the whole park had been evacuated, without a soul in sight. So much for his date.

Just as he turned and left the park, another soul came running towards the volleyball net. Cursing under his breath, the red-clad figure checked his watch. He _still_ wasn't late, but then…where was everybody? Aisha said she'd set it up…and not only was Adam missing, but _everyone_ was gone.

With one last look around, the figure gave up the ghost and headed home.


	2. Goldar's Vice Versa pt 2

Episode: During Episode 89, "Goldar's Vice-Versa"

Adam tried not to look too depressed sitting there at the table with Kimberly and Aisha.

"You know, Zedd has the worst timing ever," Kimberly said sympathetically. Adam would've felt the sympathy a little more keenly if Tommy hadn't already asked her to go to the dance.

Still, he couldn't hold that against her. "Tell me about it," he mumbled. "It's too late now." At both girls' questioning looks, he clarified. "Sarah. She's probably gonna ask someone else."

Kimberly looked over at Aisha who was still smiling her thousand watt smile. See, Kimberly was in on the plan as well. She had heard from Aisha, who had heard from Rocky about his little absentee. Rocky thought he might've found out and flipped, and Aisha and Kim couldn't help wondering the same thing. Now that they knew the story, though, things weren't looking quite so grim.

"Oh, don't give up," Kimberly encouraged. "You have three days until the dance." Which meant they had three days to set he and Rocky up.

"Yeah," Aisha agreed.

As Kimberly flipped her hair back out of the way, she caught sight of her watch. "You guys, I gotta go," she said quickly, and after bending down to snatch her bag, she was off. She'd only just left with Aisha and Adam overheard some commotion down by the mats.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Aisha asked.

Adam was already in the process of standing when he replied, "I dunno. Let's go check it out."

They made their way to the mats and saw, in the center of a good smattering of a crowd, a girl about their age pulling some pretty impressive moves.

"You ever seen her before?" Adam asked as he rested his hands at his hips.

Aisha frowned. "Nope. She must be new."

Adam grinned. "She's awesome."

"She's coming this way," Aisha said. Sure enough, the new girl walked right up to them, and Aisha automatically disliked the way she was looking at her friend.

"Hi," the new girl greeted. She didn't even seem to notice Aisha was there.

_You're so barking up the wrong tree, honey,_ she wanted to tell her.

"Do you mind if I join you?" she continued, oblivious to Aisha's mental digs. "I'm new in school, and I don't know many people yet."

Ah, playing to Adam's perpetual good-guy attitude. And Adam was falling for it hook-line and sinker, smiling at the new girl like she was an old friend. "Sure," he said. "I'm Adam, and this is Aisha!"

Aisha held out her hand to shake it, but was rewarded with a massive gym bag being thrust into her face.

"I'm Sabrina," the new girl said. "It's nice to meet you, Adam. I understand you're one of the best martial artists at Angel Grove High. Maybe you could show me a few moves?"

"Sure," Adam said, and the two began to walk off.

"Hey!" Aisha protested. The two turned around just long enough for Aisha to toss Sabrina her bag back, and then they were off. Sometimes, Adam's naïveté annoyed Aisha, and this was one of those times. He didn't even seem to notice that the girl had the hots for him.

Well, this certainly complicated things.

"This is the way," said Sabrina, shoving Aisha out of the way yet again to stand at Adam's side. "Why'd you have to bring _her_ along," she sneered.

Adam shrugged, oblivious to the barely-hidden venom in the girl's words. "She's one of my best friends," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because to Adam, it was. Smart as the boy was, he just didn't do people very well. "I just wanted you two to get along."

Really, he didn't understand why she and Aisha hated each other so much. They were both his friends, so he couldn't see the reason for the animosity.

"Well, don't hold your breath," Sabrina said.

Adam knotted his eyebrows. She wasn't even subtle about it! Of course, neither was Aisha, glaring daggers at the back of Sabrina's head with her arms crossed over her chest. Maybe this was just one of those girl things he never could get his head around. He had enough trouble with guy things, thank you very much.

He didn't get long to think about it, though. They'd only walked a few more yards before, out of the blue, Goldar appeared with a horde of putties.

"Where are you going?" Goldar hissed.

Adam went into his fighting stance immediately, but then remembered that there was a civilian with them. "Go take cover over there Sabrina!" he said. "Don't come out until we tell you to."

Out of the corner of his eye, Adam saw Sabrina walk slowly towards Goldar, and then turn. "Thanks for the advice, Power Ranger," she said. "But I can take care of myself."

There was a flash of light, and suddenly, Sabrina wasn't Sabrina anymore. "What's going on?" Adam demanded. "Who are you?"

"Scorpina," the creature hissed. She still had Sabrina's face, but everything else was different. Not that Adam was paying much attention to anything other than the massive sword in her hand. It struck him as odd that she was holding it by the blade, but then, when did the monsters ever do something normal? "And I'm your worst nightmare."

They really needed to get a new line.

Beside him, Aisha scowled. "I knew there was something I didn't like about you," she said. Adam resisted the urge to arch his eyebrow. Somehow, he got the feeling that Aisha's reason for disliking the girl had nothing to do with her being a monster-in-hiding. "I mean, besides your hair and your clothes."

Ah, the truth comes out.

"Oh, I'm crushed," Scorpina hissed.

While their attention was focused on the new monster, Goldar seized the opportunity. With a flourish of his sword, a gold light appeared. Before Adam or Aisha could do anything, the light encircled them, binding them to a tree. "Soon, your friends will come to rescue you, and that will be the end of the Power Rangers!" Goldar exclaimed.

Adam glanced over at Aisha. "I can't reach my morpher," he said. And trying had made the bruises from the _last_ Putty attack protest painfully.

"Me either!" Aisha exclaimed, and turned her glare on Scorpina. "Let us go, you witch."

Adam almost snorted. Because Aisha was _really_ just thinking "witch."

"It is now only a matter of time!" Goldar laughed.

Sometimes, Rocky hated Lord Zedd. Okay, he always hated Lord Zedd, but this was one of those times where he _really_ _especially_ hated the guy. Not only had the guy sent a monster to seduce _his_ Adam (and yes, he was _his_ Adam, even if Adam wasn't quite aware of that fact), but he'd interrupted his first attempt to ask him out, and then kept them so busy for the next three days fighting his stupid monsters and rescuing Adam and Aisha and just generally doing Ranger stuff that he hadn't gotten another chance to ask him out.

Essentially, thanks to Lord Zedd, there he was at the Vice-Versa dance, all dressed up and absent one date. For all he knew, Adam could have a date or something. It wasn't like they'd gotten much time to catch up with everything that had been going on. Of course, Aisha had assured him that she had a plan for that, too, and that when Adam showed up, he was to do whatever necessary to get him alone. She was determined not to let her ingenious plan fall through.

For once, when Rocky arrived, Adam was nowhere to be seen, and Rocky was hit with a sudden worry. If Adam _didn't_ have a date, then he might not have even showed up. Better still, he'd only seen Aisha once when he came through the door, and then she'd disappeared, so he was left hanging out with Billy and his date.

Rocky needn't have worried, though. Adam was there, standing with Tommy, Kimberly, and Aisha behind a wall of dancing teens. He was trying to look cheerful, really he was, but he just wasn't feeling it. Not only had his plan for a date fallen through, but sure enough, Rocky was over there having the time of his life.

"Oh, cheer up, Adam. It could be worse," Kimberly said.

Tommy chuckled. "Yeah, you could be here with Scorpina." He raised his eyebrows suggestively, and was relieved to get a laugh out of not only Adam, but Kimberly and Aisha, too. Oblivious as Kimberly sometimes accused him of being, he knew that there was something going on with his soft-spoken friend, and he didn't like to see any of his friends upset. Granted, he got the feeling that of the two others – Kimberly and Aisha – he was the most in-the-dark about the dilemma. Something told him the two knew more than they were willing to share with the class.

"Hey," Adam said, "as long as I've got my friends, everything'll be cool."

Tommy grinned. "All right, man," he said, and clapped hands with the Black Ranger.

"Yeah," Kimberly agreed.

While her friends were making their exchanges, though, Aisha caught something in the corner of her eyes that worried her. Sarah Dias was making her way over, a purposeful smile on her face, and where was her gaze focused? Why on her charmingly quiet friend, of course. Aisha liked Sarah well enough, but she knew that the moment Sarah got hold of Adam, her plan was kaput.

So, time to speed things up a bit. Grabbing Adam by the arm and pointedly ignoring Tommy's questioning look, she dragged him through the crowd of teens over to where Rocky was dancing and Billy was _attempting_ to dance.

She didn't miss the way Rocky's eyes lit up when he spotted her companion, nor the way Adam tensed when Rocky grinned at him.

"Fancy meeting you two here," Aisha said. She let go of Adam's arm, but only because she was pretty sure he wouldn't bolt, and went to stand beside Rocky.

Things were suddenly very awkward for Adam. Rocky was looking right at him, and it looked like the other teen had dressed up for his date. He was wearing that red vest of his that Adam secretly adored, and his hair was slicked back and gelled. As nice as it was to look at, it served as a blaring reminder that Rocky went through all that trouble for _someone else_.

For some strange reason, Adam's eyes started to burn. It wasn't that he'd had any illusions about how this night would go, but seeing it so plainly spelled out for him…it hurt. He couldn't just lose it in front of his friends, though, so he cleared his throat. "I'm gonna go get a drink," he said. Instead of heading for the Juice Bar, though, he headed for the Locker Rooms. Hopefully they'd just think he was heading for the bathrooms.

Rocky watched with confused eyes as Adam retreated through the crowd. He'd thought the other would at least be happy to see him, but Adam looked like he couldn't get away fast enough. Suddenly, he felt something sharp hit him in the ribs, and he turned to see Aisha looking at him pointedly.

"Well?" she said expectantly. "What are you waiting for? An engraved invitation?"

"What?" he asked, and then it hit him. "Oh. _Oh! _You want me to…" He jabbed his thumb in Adam's direction.

Aisha nodded. "Yes," she said, raising her eyebrows in a sort of _no duh_ expression.

"Right. Wish me luck!" Flashing her two thumbs up, Rocky turned on his heels and jogged out of the Youth Center common room after his best friend.

"What was that about?" Billy asked. Tommy and Kimberly had made their way over, too, and Tommy looked just as confused as Billy did.

Kimberly, though, flashed Aisha a knowing smile which was met with a victorious grin. "I get the feeling we'll find out pretty soon," Kimberly giggled.

Rocky caught up to Adam in the hallway just outside the common room, where the music was still playing loud enough to hear. He ran up behind him, and grabbed his arm, turning him around just in time for the Black Ranger to wipe an errant tear from his cheek.

That didn't do much for the ones still welling in his eyes, though, and Rocky felt his heart ache at the sight. "Hey, man, what's wrong?" he asked. "You know you can tell me anything."

Adam dropped his gaze to stare at his feet, letting out a weak laugh that sounded so sad it hurt. "It's kind of stupid," he muttered, "but I just…there was someone I wanted to be here with, and they're here with someone else." He was being pointedly vague, so there was no way Rocky could connect the dots, but at the same time, he wasn't lying. He never was a very good liar, and _that_ Rocky never missed. "I don't even have a date."

Rocky brought his hands up to rest on Adam's slumped shoulders solidly. "You want to know a secret?" he asked. Adam chanced a glance up at his face with tear-filled eyes, and Rocky smiled at him before whispering conspiratorially, "I don't have a date, either." He leaned back, that same grin on his face, as confusion and curiosity sparked on Adam's face.

"I thought you were here with Jessica," he said.

Rocky shrugged. "She asked me, but I've had my eye on someone else for a while now. Since junior high, actually."

Adam thought for a moment, and then cocked his head to the side. "Aisha?" he asked.

"0 for 1," Rocky replied.

"Then who?" Adam asked. The new mystery wasn't making things any better; even if Rocky didn't like Jessica, he liked someone else. And what was worse, this wasn't some passing fling. He'd known them since junior high? That was a lot more serious.

Rocky watched as Adam practically deflated. That wasn't what he'd meant to happen at all. He just wasn't any good at this sort of thing; he didn't know what to say, and Adam was looking more and more distraught.

"Listen, I gotta go," Adam muttered, and the catch in his throat when he spoke was physically painful to Rocky. The younger teen turned, and started to leave, and Rocky could feel him slipping away from him.

So he did the only thing he could think of: he grabbed his shoulder, turned him around, and with one hand buried in Adam's soft black hair, he crushed their lips together.

For the briefest of moments, he was in heaven. Adam's lips were soft as he'd always imagined they would be, and the smell of him – like trees just after a rain – was so intense Rocky thought he would never get it out of his head.

But then he realized what was _actually _happening. He was kissing him. _He_ was kissing _Adam_, which though a dream come true for Rocky, probably wasn't so much for Adam. He pulled back, letting his hands fall to his sides regretfully as he tried to gauge his friend's reaction.

Adam looked like a deer in headlights. His eyes were wider than Rocky had ever seen, and his lips were still parted from the shock of it.

It wasn't exactly the reaction he'd been hoping for. Sensing the impending freak-out, Rocky quickly tried to explain himself. Sadly, he could only think of one thing to say.

"Adam, we've been best friends for almost our whole lives, right?" he said quickly. "We've done so many things together, and you know I care about you, right? The thing is, though, Adam, I really care for you. More than as a best friend or a brother. I guess what I'm trying to say is—"

He was silenced by a pair of familiar lips, tentatively pressing against his own. Adam was kissing _him_. Shyly, like he did everything, but that was just part of the charm. And besides, Rocky was forward enough for the both of them.

Slipping an arm around his waist, he pulled Adam closer. His other hand found Adam's hair again, and he deepened the kiss. Though he only had eyes for Adam, he'd had plenty of experience in this, and it was time to let that experience shine.

The kiss went on until both boys ran out of breath and they had to break apart. Of course, they only separated far enough to breathe, and Rocky leaned his forehead against Adam's with a breathless smile. There was still one more part to his speech that Adam hadn't let him finish.

"I love you, Adam."

And finally, Adam's face lit up in that real smile that nearly closed his gorgeous almond eyes. "I love you too," he said.

Rocky had never been happier in his life, and just as he was about to lean in for the one thing that would make the moment better – that is to say another kiss – he heard a gasp from behind him.

"That's…unexpected." Billy's voice was unmistakable and utterly dumbfounded, and Rocky felt Adam stiffen in his arms. Just as the youth was about to slip from his grip, Rocky wound an arm around his shoulders. No matter what happened, he wasn't going to let Adam get away. Never again.

With Adam snugly at his side, Rocky turned to face the others. There were all of them – Tommy, Aisha, Kimberly, and Billy – standing just a little ways down the hall. Kim and Aisha, for their part, both looked very smug. Billy looked perplexed, and Tommy looked like he'd just seen a ghost.

"Uhm…surprise?" Adam said weakly. He gave a light chuckle, but Rocky could feel him shaking.

Thankfully, Aisha was quite happy about the whole thing, and did a good job showing it. "Uhm, no, not really," she laughed.

"Speak for yourself," Tommy said, and if his eyes were any wider, they'd have fallen out of his head. Billy seemed to have accepted it well enough, though.

"So…what now?" Rocky asked. Aisha's plan had worked, and so far as he could tell, his friends weren't upset – a little confused and shocked, maybe, but not upset.

This time, it was Kim who grinned. "Well, let me think," she said, "we're at a _dance_, and now we've all got dates." She let them figure out the rest for themselves, grabbing hold of Tommy's hand and dragging him back towards the common room. All the while, their "unshakeable" leader was shaking his head back and forth. He turned to Kim just as they were turning out of the hallway, and as they disappeared from sight, they could just barely hear his question over the music.

"How did I _miss_ that?"

The remaining four got a laugh out of that, and Rocky was relieved to feel some of the tension leave Adam's shoulders.

"Well, Laura's probably missing me," Billy said, and followed Kimberly and Tommy's lead, leaving Aisha alone with her two best friends.

"Took you two long enough," she said, and then she was off.

Rocky laughed, and he could feel as much as hear Adam's soft chuckles as they vibrated in his chest. As the music shifted to a slow, soft rock, Rocky got an idea. With a grin, he dropped his arm from Adam's waist, and instead turned to stand in front of him and held out a hand. "May I have this dance?" he asked, waggling his eyebrow cheesily.

Adam laughed at him, but the blush that colored his cheeks made it well worth it. The flustered young man took Rocky's hand, and allowed himself to be pulled into a close embrace.

"Shouldn't we go outside to the others?" Adam asked.

"And risk sharing you with the half-crazed throng of girls dying to ask you to dance? I'll pass, thanks."

Adam resisted the urge to point out that _he_ wasn't the one who'd been asked to the dance in the first place, and instead allowed himself to be swayed on his feet by his taller friend. God, it felt sort of weird to call him that now. Friends didn't rest their heads on other friends' shoulders while they slow danced. It begged the question, "Does this mean we're..." He trailed off as Rocky slipped his arms around his hips. He let his own arms rest around Rocky's firm shoulders as the other held him close, moving in time to the music that bled down the hall.

"Together?" Rocky finished for him helpfully. They were pressed so close, Adam could feel the words rumble in Rocky's chest, and he could feel Rocky's warm breath on his ear. "I'd like it to." He leaned back just enough to press a kiss to Adam's cheek, and ended up catching his lips, too, briefly. He gazed into those brown, almond-shaped eyes he loved so much, and he was emboldened by the affection he saw in them. "So what do you say, Park? Want to be my boyfriend?"

Adam sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Oh, I don't know," he hedged, and just when Rocky thought his heart was about to explode, a smile broke out on Adam's face. "Yeah. Yeah, I do." His smile turned teasing, then, and he laughed. "Just as long as you promise to protect me from _your_ throng of adoring Rocky-ettes. I think they might start a lynch mob or something when they find out you've been stolen from them."

"How could I have been stolen from them?" Rocky asked, leaning in for one more kiss, "When I was always yours to begin with?"

At that point, it didn't matter how corny the line was, or how silly they must've looked, slow-dancing in that abandoned hallway. All that mattered was that they were together, and they'd never been happier.


	3. Mirror of Regret

Episode: Directly following Episode 90, "Mirror of Regret"

Rocky had just finished the last problem of his math homework when he heard a soft rapping on his window. There was only one person who ever showed up at Rocky's window, and he couldn't help smiling when he thought of whom it must be. Dropping his math book and papers off by his desk, he hurried over to his window and pulled the curtains aside. Sure enough, sitting on the branch of the tree just outside his window was Adam Park, waiting patiently to be let inside.

He was all too happy to oblige, unlocking the clasp of his window and pulling it open so that his friend could jump through. As soon as Rocky was clear, Adam did just that, landing softly inside and moving out of the way so that Rocky could close the window back.

"Hey, you," Rocky greeted when he turned around. Adam was already sitting on the side of his bed, waiting for him.

"Hey," the younger teen replied.

Rocky knotted his eyebrows. Something was up with his boyfriend, and he was going to find out what.

He sat on the other side of his bed, crossing his legs in front of him and waiting for Adam to kick his shoes off and do the same. They ended up sitting across from one another, their knees touching and their eyes locked. "All right, then, what's up?" he asked. He usually ended up being the conversation starter on nights like this; Rocky was convinced Adam could sit there for hours and not say a thing.

"Since when did something have to be up for me to drop by?" Adam asked. He was deflecting.

Too bad for him Rocky's ADD only extended to the classroom. "Since it's eleven o'clock and you look like someone just ran over your kitten."

"I don't have a kitten," Adam deadpanned.

"Want one of mine?" That part wasn't a joke. Their cat had kittens a few days ago, and they'd been trying to pawn them off on people ever since.

Adam smiled, and Rocky congratulated himself on a job well-done. "Somehow, I don't think my parents would approve of me bringing another pet home."

Arching an eyebrow, Rocky leaned forward and bumped his fist against Adam's shoulder playfully. "Oh, so I'm a pet now, huh?"

"Your words, not mine," Adam replied cheekily. His spunk faded away after a moment, though, and he sighed. "I just couldn't sleep, I guess."

Rocky nodded sympathetically. He'd had quite a few sleepless nights himself, especially in his recent experience as a Ranger. Still, he got the feeling there was more to it than that. "What's keeping you up?" he asked.

The curly-haired boy worried at his lip for a moment, before shrugging. "I don't know," he muttered. "I just…after today, with Goldar and that mirror…"

Ah. Rocky couldn't help frowning, his eyebrows knotting. "You never told me what happened with that," he said. "Zordon said it had something to do with your self-confidence; you know, the usual vague Zordon spiel. What happened out there, Adam? Really."

"He had a mirror," Adam said softly. He didn't look up from his lap, and he pulled at the fraying hem of one of his overlong sweater sleeves. "The 'Mirror of Regret' he called it. Showed me my childhood embarrassments. All my insecurities…" He chuckled softly. "Got plenty of those, but I guess you'd know that better than anyone else."

Rocky rested a sympathetic hand on Adam's knee, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "But you beat it," he reminded him. "You're strong, Adam."

"Sometimes," Adam muttered. "But not by myself. You're a big part of it, Rocky." Before Rocky could deny it – he'd already opened his mouth to do just that – Adam continued. "When Goldar was showing me all those times I got picked on as a kid, or made fun of or even all those times my parents—" his voice caught. "It hurt at first. He really had me there for a while. But then…well, do you remember when we first met? In the park when we were little? After the soccer coach picked every kid but me, I was crying under that tree, and you came over. You asked me what was wrong, and when I told you, you—"

"Dragged you up off the ground and forced you to throw a Frisbee with me until it went dark outside," Rocky finished for him, smiling fondly at the memory. "Yeah, Adam, I remember."

"And that time when those kids were making fun of me because I was so small."

"To be fair, you _were_ a little pocket-sized. You wore it well, though."

Adam had to admit the point, and smiled a little. And the memory of what happened next didn't hurt. "You had to go and beat them all up, just you against all of them."

"Of course," Rocky said. "No one messes with my boy. Even back then. If I recall correctly, you were pretty impressed." He looked decidedly smug about that, too.

"I was," Adam confirmed. "And when I asked you to teach me, you invited me to karate class…if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even know what martial arts are." The thought was just so _wild, _now that he'd said it aloud, he couldn't help but wonder. "All those afternoons we spent in the park practicing after every lesson, so that I could catch up to you, and then so that we could get better – _together_ – I looked forward to those every day. And all because that coach hadn't picked me to play." He shrugged. "It's a little hard to regret something like that when it led to knowing you."

Rocky beamed at that. It wasn't that Adam never showed he cared or anything, but it was rare to hear him just come out and say it. Normally, Adam was more subtle actions than pretty words, and Rocky was just fine with that. This was a nice change of pace, though.

That said, it was still pretty obvious that the story wasn't done. _Happy_ memories didn't have Adam showing up at his window at eleven o'clock at night. That meant there was something else that his boyfriend hadn't told him, and that just wasn't gonna fly with Rocky. "So then what's the problem, huh?" he asked, flicking his quiet boyfriend lightly on the knee.

Letting out a soft, _miserable_ chuckle, Adam dropped his eyes to the sliver of Rocky's red bedspread that peaked through the small space between their crossed legs. "Can't get anything past you, can I?" he asked.

Rocky shrugged. "You can try," he said, smiling a little in an attempt to lighten the mood. "But I know you, Ads, so it probably won't work. Why don't you just tell me, and that way we can both save a little breath?"

"Since when have you worried about saving breath?" Adam muttered.

"That one burned a little."

Adam glanced up, and then dropped his eyes again. "I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't mean that."

"Even if you did, I wouldn't mind," was Rocky's smiling reply. It wasn't like it wasn't true, anyway.

"Still, I shouldn't have said it," Adam muttered.

With Adam's eyes still fixed firmly on Rocky's bedspread – which frankly wasn't even that interesting, for the record – it was the older boy's turn to let out a sigh. It looked like he and Adam were due a _long_ talk; maybe he could iron out some of those insecurities that seemed to be popping up more and more the closer they got. He doubted they were new or anything. Adam had just been opening up a lot more since they'd gotten together a couple weeks ago at the dance, so Rocky thought maybe a few more were just slipping through the cracks.

Either way, what made Adam sad made Rocky sad, and Rocky just didn't _do_ sad. "Hey, bro, look at me," he said. When Adam made no move to raise his eyes, Rocky's voice became a little more insistent. "Look at me," he repeated, but this time, he didn't give him a choice in the matter. Tipping a finger under his chin, he gently lifted Adam's head until the younger teen had no choice but to meet his eyes.

He was startled to find tears rising in those gorgeous chocolate eyes. It wasn't the first time it had happened,: the two of them, sitting on the bed across from one another, one upset to the point of tears and the other trying anything to make them stop. Adam wasn't the one crying sometimes, either. Before, though, there had been limits to what he could do. He could talk to him, maybe even pat him on the shoulder, and threaten to make the one responsible cry their compensation, but that was it. He couldn't risk letting the other in on his secret more-than-brotherly love.

Now, though, there were no such limitations, and as the tears finally started to crest over the rims of his eyes and spill onto his cheeks, Rocky did what he'd wanted to do all those times before.

He held him. And none of that awkward half-hugging, either. No, he reached out and pulled the smaller boy close enough that Adam was practically in his lap, letting him bury his face in the shoulder of his LA Angels jersey.

For a long moment, Adam cried silently into Rocky's shoulder, just reveling in the sanctuary of his arms. He needed this, just a chance to unwind and let his barriers slip for a while. Rocky knew that – knew _him_ – and held him until he finally sat back on his own.

"I'm sorry, I—"

Rocky held up a hand. "Nothing to be sorry for," he said.

With a sniffle, Adam wiped the last of the moisture from his cheeks with the back of his hand and said, "That's not what I was apologizing for." A blush colored his already-flushed cheeks. "Not real proud of that, though, either."

At that, Rocky's eyebrow ticked upwards. "What're you apologizing for, then?" he asked. He tried to tell himself he wasn't that nervous, but the way his heartbeat kept speeding up was telling him otherwise. What could all this be about? What could have Adam so upset? Rocky could only think of two things that had changed recently – becoming a Ranger, and becoming Rocky's boyfriend – and Adam probably would've cracked a lot sooner if it was being a Ranger.

That left the latter of the two options, and if that was the problem…well, as much as he hated to think about it, there was a pretty straightforward solution to it. He'd have to hope that wasn't the case, though. He'd only just accepted the fact that the dream had come true; he didn't think he'd be able to handle it if the dream was shattered so soon.

"I don't…" Adam began. "You see, I…Well, it wasn't really…It's not that I…" With each start and stop, Adam seemed to get more and more agitated, until he let out a frustrated huff of air and ruffled his hands roughly through his curls.

Worried Adam might just scratch his scalp off if he kept at it like he was, Rocky put a calming hand on his shoulder. "Take a deep breath, bro," he said. At first, Adam didn't do it, but after a few seconds he seemed to realize that Rocky was serious. Rocky breathed with him as he took in one long, slow breath, and let it out just as slowly, and then he nodded approvingly. "That's better. Now just give yourself a second to get everything together, and then try again, 'kay?"

Adam nodded, but deep down he knew that no amount of time would be enough to get himself together. His gut was twisted in knots and it was all he could do to keep from either screaming like a madman or crying like a six-year-old girl. Silent tears were bad enough; he didn't want to break down bawling on Rocky's bed.

But Rocky was still watching him, that expectant look on his face, and Adam was sure if he held onto this any longer, he'd implode.

"_Ithinkmyparentsmightknow_." The words burst from his lips in a single breath.

Rocky blinked. "Huh?"

Adam made a face. He tried the breathing thing again, but it wasn't working so well this time. All the same, he'd said it now, so he might as well say it so Rocky could understand him. "I think my parents might know…about us, I mean," he repeated a little slower.

This time when Rocky blinked, Adam got ready to throw in the towel. The quizzical look only made it worse. Finally, though, the perplexed set of his lips morphed into a small "o" as he caught on to why Adam was so upset.

Of course, then it turned right back into that confused look that was somehow both charming and frustrating at the same time. "You _think_ they _might_ know about us?" Rocky clarified.

"Well, when you say it like that," Adam muttered, flushing redder and rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Rocky quickly held up his hands. "I didn't mean it like that, man. I know your parents are strict and all, but…you're gonna have to tell 'em eventually, you know?"

"I know," Adam said. "But I'm planning on putting it off until I'm heading off to college anyway. Or maybe if Zedd finally follows through on his whole 'gonna end the world' thing." He shrugged and let out a short laugh. "Not much they could do about it then."

"What do you think they'd do about it otherwise?" Rocky asked.

Adam shrugged. "You know my dad." As if that explained everything.

Then again, Rocky _did_ know Adam's dad – his mom, too – so maybe it did explain everything. They didn't even have the excuse of being catholic, like Rocky's parents. His dad was just a hardball and his mom went along with whatever he said. His parents together were the cause of just about as many nights like these as Rocky's parents' divorce.

Rather than saying anything, though, he pushed himself up off the bed.

"Where're you going?" Adam asked.

"Getting you some clothes to sleep in," Rocky replied as he rifled through one of his messy drawers. He finally found a pair of shorts that were pretty snug on him - hopefully they'd stay on Adam's narrow hips that way – and a black t-shirt that only had a few red stripes on it. "You're staying here tonight, right?"

Like he said, he knew him.

Adam smiled and caught the clothes Rocky tossed to them. He didn't bother going to the bathroom to change; after years of locker rooms and sleepovers and swim parties, it was pretty much a given that there was no part of him Rocky hadn't seen before. Instead, he stood up off the bed and tugged his t-shirt up and over his head.

His shirt was still up around his ears when he heard Rocky's hiss. Instinctively, he dropped the shirt, thinking that something was wrong with his boyfriend, but when he turned, Adam found Rocky staring at him with a frown.

"What?" he asked as Rocky approached.

Rocky's eyebrows were knotted with concern, and he moved to stand in front of Adam. He didn't say anything at first. His fingers fell to the fabric at the hem of Adam's shirt, where the Korean's smaller hands had been only moments before. Rocky was never one for ado, and he had only a fleeting grasp of the concept of personal space, so he didn't bother asking for permission before pushing the shirt up around Adam's armpits.

"When'd you get these?" he asked, ghosting the fingers of one hand along the edges of a set of particularly nasty-looking bruises on Adam's ribs.

Adam looked down to see what he was talking about, and shrugged. "Putties in the park before the Vice-Versa dance," he said. "One of them got a lucky shot. Guess it's just part of the job."

"Seems like it," Rocky agreed. He'd had his fair share of bruises right about that shade of green, between the putties and the monsters and all the other craziness that came with being a Ranger. Still, "You could've mentioned it, though."

"What, and have missed out on seeing the look on your face now?" Adam replied. There was a hint of cheekiness to his smile that got his almond eyes dancing.

It was the kind of look Rocky liked to see there. It brought that fire to his chest that Adam always seemed to be so good at lighting. He let Adam's shirt hem fall back down to his waist. "I'll go get you some ibuprofen. You want a shower?"

Adam shook his head. "I took one before I came."

"A shower, right? Not ibuprofen."

"Right."

"Good. I'll be right back," with that, Rocky disappeared into the adjoining bathroom.

Adam started changing while he was gone, chuckling as the sound of dropping bottles brought out a yelped curse from his boyfriend. He'd told him every time he was over here that he needed to organize that medicine cabinet of his, but every time he just laughed it off.

Messy or not, it didn't take long for Rocky to find what he was looking for, and he emerged with a bottle in one hand and a glass of water in the other. Adam was already changed by then, and sitting on the corner of Rocky's red-quilted bed.

After shaking out two pills and watching Adam take them, Rocky handed him the glass. "Drink up," he said with a grin, and then flopped onto the bed. Lucky for Adam, he'd finished drinking before impact.

As Adam slid under the covers on the left side of the bed – his favorite side – Rocky flipped the light switch by his bed, bathing the room in dark. He too kicked back the covers and slid under them.

Adam had only just closed his eyes when he felt Rocky's arms slip around him, pulling him back into a warm chest. This was Adam's favorite part of nights like these, even back when they were just friends. No matter if it was Adam hurting, or if Rocky was the one upset, they would always end up like this. It was comforting, and now, finally, Adam could let himself enjoy the embrace.

"Night," Rocky muttered, his voice already low and husky with coming sleep. Adam could feel his hot breath against his neck, and smiled.

"Night." And to himself, though he was certain Rocky was already asleep, he uttered a small, "Thank you."


	4. When is a Ranger Not a Ranger?

Episode: During Episode 91, "When is a Ranger Not a Ranger?"

Adam was doing his best not to look at Rocky, but he just couldn't help it. Every few seconds, he would find his eyes flickering over to where the red-clad teen was sitting, and every time, he would see him staring back at him.

"A kaleidoscope shows us how light is refracted," he said, pointedly training the kaleidoscope he'd been staring through on the other half of the classroom. Maybe then he wouldn't see the intense stare Rocky was sending his way. Say what you want about Ranger intellect and respect, Rocky _never _paid that much attention in class. How was he supposed to give a presentation when Rocky was looking at him like that?

"You start with normal white light," he continued, dropping the scope from his eye. The thing could give a guy a headache if he looked too long. "And then, the light enters the kaleidoscope and breaks into a million pieces." From the lack of heads on desks, it looked like people thought it was pretty interesting. His project was going well, then.

_Just like Rocky said it would._

Which was another reason his boyfriend's attention was strange; he'd already seen this presentation before. Adam always had a thing about speaking in front of people, and Rocky had suggested that he practice to ease his nerves. He'd ended up in the back of Ernie's juice bar running through his presentation with Rocky. Granted, Rocky had spent half the time staring through the kaleidoscope at Adam while he spoke. The look on his face had been priceless.

The thought of it brought a smile to Adam's face even now, as he held out the kaleidoscope to the girl sitting in the desk in front of him. "Take a look."

The girl – Christy, he thought her name was, but he was still getting to know people at the school – looked a little hesitant to take it at first, but when she put it to her eye, he saw her face light up. She passed it on as Ms. Appleby made her way to the front.

"Excellent report, Adam," she said, but he wasn't paying attention to her. His eyes were on the back right side of the class, where Rocky sat giving him the thumbs up and a grin so wide it could've split his face in two. Seeing that, he couldn't keep his own smile from widening.

"Questions, anyone?" Ms. Appleby asked. He watched as Skull's hand flew up, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Most of his classmates didn't bother trying. Even Ms. Appleby was less-than-polite. "_Intelligent_ questions?"

This time it was Bulk that came back. "I have an intelligent question," he said.

This, Adam had to hear.

"How tall is the tallest building in the world?"

Beside him, he saw Ms. Appleby sigh. "Questions about Adam's report, Bulk," she practically hissed.

"Heck," Bulk sneered, "who'd want to know about that?"

Billy and Aisha looked at each other with matching expressions of exasperation, but just behind them, Rocky was shooting a different look. It was one that promised misadventures in the hallway, and new black marks on Bulk's already-questionable reputation. Because unlike the other Rangers, Rocky wasn't above playing a little dirty sometimes, and he gave as good as he got. Especially when it was for Adam.

Unaware of Rocky's unspoken threat, Bulk leaned over and muttered something else to Skull, but it was drowned out by the bell that rang to signal the end of class.

Grabbing his books, Rocky stood from his seat and headed to the front of the class. Adam still had to pack up his project, and though he had no idea how to help him with that, he lingered in the class to wait for him. It was the last class of the day, so it wasn't like he was going to be late. Adam was riding with him to the Youth Center, anyway, so that they could meet up with Aisha. She wanted to run her project by the two of them, though Rocky got the feeling it had nothing to do with a fear of public speaking like Adam's had.

He personally didn't understand why Adam got so nervous about that sort of thing. He was of the opinion that Adam could just stand up and smile that cute smile of his – the one that crinkled his chocolate-colored eyes and brought those dimples of his to full power – and he'd get an A+ every time. He'd tried telling him as much, but Adam had started blushing brighter than Rocky's Ranger uniform.

He didn't mention it to Adam, but he was pretty sure the younger teen could flash that _blush_ just once during a project, and he'd ace the rest of the semester.

With all of his things packed, Adam shouldered his bag and joined Rocky by the door. "Ready to go?" Rocky asked.

"Yep."

After a quick stop off at their respective lockers, the two of them headed out to the parking lot to Rocky's red pickup. Adam accused the color of being foreshadowing; Rocky just thought it looked good.

Together, they headed over to the Youth Center where they were meeting Aisha. Aisha was already there, but Rocky was thirsty, so he made a bee line for the juice bar so that he could order himself a drink.

"You want anything?" he asked, leaning against the counter.

Adam shook his head. "Nah, I'm good," he replied as Ernie came up to take their orders.

"Hey Rocky, Adam. What can I get for you?" he asked.

Adam opened his mouth to tell Ernie nothing for him, but Rocky beat him to it. "One fruit punch for me, and a grape juice for Adam." He glanced back to check with Aisha, but she seemed to already have a glass full of her trademark pineapple juice. How she could drink that stuff, he would never know.

As Ernie slid their drinks across the bar, Adam reached into his wallet. Once again, though, Rocky was slightly faster and handed Ernie the two bucks for both their drinks. Of course, Adam couldn't let him get away with that without shooting him a look, but he returned it with his trademark grin.

"Uh oh, what's that look for?" Aisha asked as they sat down at the table. Shrugging, Rocky hooked his foot around the leg of Adam's chair and pulled it closer.

"He wouldn't let me pay for my juice," Adam sulked.

Aisha rolled her eyes and laughed. "Oh, the nerve of some people," she said sarcastically. "How dare you, Rocky!"

"I know," Rocky said solemnly. That lasted all of about no-point-two seconds before the grin returned. "Buy him a one buck cup of juice and he acts like I'm spoiling him."

Adam stopped sulking, then, and instead leaned forward in his folded arms, smiling one of his eye-creasing, dimple-powered smiles. "You do spoil me," he teased. "I mean, a cup of grape juice and an ego the size of Angel Grove. What more could a guy want?"

"Exactly!" Rocky exclaimed.

Shaking her head at her friends' antics, Aisha took a drink of her own juice. That was right about when Rocky noticed the big thing in the middle of the table.

"Uh, Aisha, what's that?" he asked. It was a weird looking thing, with a wooden frame and five metal balls suspended on strings.

"I thought you'd never ask," Aisha said. "It's my science project, designed to show how energy transfers through collisions. What you do is you pull one of the ball bearings—" she lifted one of the metal balls off to the side, "—and then you let it go." She did just that, and Rocky and Adam both watched as it collided with the others. To their surprise, the ball on the other end shot out, and when it fell back, the first ball flew out. "They all swing with the same energy, and the energy gets transferred from one ball to the other, so they just keep swinging."

"That's awesome, Aisha!" Adam said. Rocky was still too busy staring at it to say anything, and Aisha was having a fun time tapping the ball bearing closest to her each time it came 'round.

That was right about when Bulk and Skull came wandering over. At first, Rocky thought they would just pass by the table, but then they stopped. As if mesmerized, the two of them leaned in, staring at Aisha's project like someone staring at a hypnotist's medallion.

Which gave Rocky an idea…

Glancing over at Adam with a cunning smirk that the other returned, Rocky propped an elbow on the table and leaned in close to the two punks. He hadn't forgotten his promised revenge on Bulk for disrespecting _his_ Adam, and now was a perfect time to exact it. "You're getting sleepy…" he whispered. "Very…sleepy."

Sure enough, the two started snoring. There was really just no end to how silly Bulk and Skull could be. Before he got a chance to revel in it, though, the trademark beep of his communicator went off at his wrist. In unison, the three all stood up and made for the nearest relatively private area, and Rocky did his best not to sigh at another day ruined by Rita and Zedd.


	5. Rocky Just Wants to Have Fun pt 1

Episode: During Episode 92, "Rocky Just Wants to Have Fun"

_"Get out!" his father screamed, throwing open the front door. Adam had seen him angry before, but never like this. The way his face was turning red, his already-narrow eyes narrowing until they were barely more than slits. "You're a disgrace to this family! Get! Out!" With each scream, spit came from his elder's mouth, but he was too afraid to say anything or try to avoid it. He'd already been punished enough; he didn't think he could take another round. _

_ But he didn't want to leave. He couldn't…he didn't have anywhere to go. They were his parents. How could they do this to him – how could his father raise his hand over and over, and how could his mother sit by and let it happen? _

_He wouldn't beg, though. Maybe he was a disgrace to his family, but he had pride. He had a duffle bag with enough clothes to last him a week; hopefully by then his dad will have cooled off. Not likely, but it wasn't like he had anywhere else to go._

_ "I said get out!" Suddenly, Adam grabbed by the back of his collar, and with a mighty heft from his father, he was thrown backwards out of the house. He didn't manage to catch himself in time, and felt the brick of the stairs rake against his back. When he landed on the sidewalk, his head cracked painfully against the ground, and he felt something pull in his left leg where he landed on it._

_He'd no sooner hit the concrete sidewalk than his duffle bag came crashing into his abused stomach. It wasn't bad enough his father had thrown his fists into it; he had to toss a heavy bag full of shoes and clothes and schoolbooks in to finish up the job. _

_ Adam felt the air leave him in a huff, but it wasn't breathlessness that left him frozen outside on the sidewalk in the pouring rain. Even as the rain soaked through his clothes, he couldn't bring himself to move; he couldn't bring himself to look away from the closed door of his house. _

_ It wasn't until the porch lights went off and he heard his parents retreating up the old, noisy stairs that Adam finally pushed himself up off the ground. He wasn't welcome…he'd been kicked out of the house. His parents didn't want him, and he had no place to go. He couldn't let anyone see him like this, though._

_ Luckily, there was one place in Angel Grove where the doors were always open, and at night, the floors were always empty..._

Adam woke with a start as he felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him awake. He jolted up, only to be painfully reminded of last night's…incident by a searing pain in his back. His ribs weren't feeling too great, either.

He didn't let himself linger on it, though. Not with Billy and Tommy standing over him. Tommy had been the one to shake him, and he was the first one to speak.

"Are you okay, man?" he asked. Adam would've answered him, but he was a little preoccupied getting himself up. He had tried to swing his legs over the side of the stack of practice mats he'd slept on last night, and had been rewarded with a round of protests from his left leg. He'd seen it last night when he was showering, all skinned up and swollen from how he'd landed on it. Nothing was broken from what he could tell, but it sure did hurt.

He masked his wince behind a yawn as he pretended to look blearily at the locker room around him. Yep, this was where he'd slept – the men's locker room at the Youth Center. "Nah," he lied, rubbing at his eyes. He'd rehearsed this before he went to sleep last night, just in case. "Water heater's out at my house. I went out early for a run and had to stop here for a shower. I guess I must've fallen asleep."

Tommy didn't seem convinced, but he offered the younger Ranger a hand up which he accepted. Only, once Adam was standing, something caught his eye. Instead of letting go of Adam's hand, he grabbed him around the wrist and turned it over.

His palms were shredded. It looked like someone had taken a sander to the bases of them, and little scratches littered the sides.

"Those look pretty serious," Billy observed, frowning. "What happened?"

Adam glanced down at his skinned palms and shrugged. "Skinned them on the concrete," he lied. He'd found with lying, less was usually more. Let them fill in the blanks.

"You should really get these bandaged up," Tommy told him, but Adam shook his head.

"They're not bad enough for bandages," he said. Then, deciding he wasn't liking the looks his friends were giving him, he opted to change the subject. "So, what're you guys doing?"

"I'm just here to get a Frisbee out of my locker. Aisha, Kim, and I are gonna go play in the park," Tommy said.

"I'm supposed to be studying with Rocky," Billy said, "but he's a little…preoccupied."

Adam raised an eyebrow. "With what?" he asked. It wasn't like Rocky was ever _enthusiastic_ about studying, but he did it all the same.

Billy sighed. "Ernie has a new pachinko machine, and Rocky is acting like he's obsessed with it. Hey, maybe you could talk to him."

"Huh?" Adam asked.

"Given the proximity of your relationship, if he'll listen to anyone, theoretically, it would be you," Billy replied.

Despite the over-complicated diction, Adam got the gist of what Billy was saying and nodded. The three of them waited for Tommy to fetch his Frisbee, and then they headed back out into the Youth Center.

"The girls are waiting for me, so I'm gonna head to the park," Tommy said, gesturing towards the exit with his Frisbee. "You should come, Adam, once you get finished up here."

To be perfectly honest, the prospect of a Frisbee game didn't sound fun to Adam at all, but he knew it would be weird of him to turn it down. So, he nodded. "Yeah, I'll catch up," he said, and then followed Billy up to Ernie's Juice Bar.

Just like Billy said, Rocky was standing there in front of a tall, tabletop game. It didn't even look like he was blinking.

Billy and Adam exchanged frowns, and while Billy returned to his papers, Adam approached Rocky.

"Hey," he started, leaning up against the bar next to Rocky.

"What do you want?" Rocky snapped.

Adam was taken aback. He sounded distracted, but more than that, he sounded…_rude_. Like he didn't have time to be bothered with Adam.

Normally, Adam would have been a little miffed at the blatant brush-off, but now, he just didn't have the energy. If anything, he was hurt – now, when he was most in need of comfort, the person he counted on most didn't seem to want anything to do with him – and a little confused. This wasn't like Rocky at all.

"What's going on with you, Rocky?" he asked.

Rocky didn't even look away from the game. "Can't you see I'm having fun?" he bit back. "Just go away, why don'tcha? I don't feel like dealing with you right now."

Though Adam knew logically that Rocky didn't know about what happened last night, it felt like that was what he was talking about. Like he didn't want to be bothered with Adam's troubles. Honestly, Adam couldn't blame him. He just wasn't worth the trouble; he was a disgrace.

"Right..." Adam said softly. "Okay. Well, just…have fun or whatever it is you're doing. I'm gonna go." Doing his best to keep his face blank, Adam turned away from Rocky. He saw Billy flash him a curious, worried look, but Adam just shook his head and kept walking. Rejected. That was how he felt. Rejected by his parents, and now by his best friend.

He'd managed to get himself reined back in by the time he met the others in the park. They were already in the middle of a game, but it was the easiest thing in the world to snatch the Frisbee out of the air and join the game. Even if it made his back sting and his legs hurt, it kept his mind occupied. At least he still had friends, he told himself.

The others made room for him, turning their triangle into a square as they passed the Frisbee back and forth to one another. They had a pretty good rally going, until Aisha launched one over both his and Tommy's head. Reflex had him turning to chase after it, but his leg promptly reminded him that it wasn't a good idea, so he slowed and let Tommy dive for it.

Naturally, their fearless leader caught it, and as he they were all praising the awesome catch, a new face joined them.

"Hey, Billy, what's up?" Aisha asked.

"Hey guys, listen…" Billy started, his hands shoved uncomfortably in his pockets. "We've got a real problem."

All of them exchanged glances, and Kimberly groaned. "Aw, no. Zedd?"

Billy shook his head. "No," he said. "It's Rocky."

"Rocky?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, he seems to be obsessed with Ernie's pachinko machine."

Though Adam had heard this story already – and seen it first hand – he still couldn't help paying attention as he hugged his arms to his chest. Billy sounded genuinely concerned, not frustrated, and Adam wondered if something might be wrong with Rocky. Thinking about it, it really hadn't been like Rocky to say those things or to be so rude. Maybe something was wrong?

"We should go to the Youth Center and talk to him," Adam said finally as they all walked through the park. He felt guilty, now, for having gotten upset if something really was wrong with Rocky. He shouldn't have doubted him.

"That's a good idea," Tommy agreed. "Let's go see what's up with Rocky."

Aisha nodded. "Yeah, let's go check it out."

Suddenly, though, on the bridge of the playground just ahead of them, a troupe of putties appeared.

"Battle stations, everyone," Tommy commanded, and they all fell into their respective fighting stances. Adam, for his part, couldn't believe the timing. He was so tired, and he hurt all over. Couldn't he just have this one day? One day was all he was asking for, just to recover from last night and figure things out.

He was a Ranger, though, and he didn't have a choice. In fact, he led the charge, kicking off on his sore knee and launching himself into the fray.

He heard Aisha call for Zordon, and heard him say something about sending Rocky, but he didn't have time to linger. Dodging a fist sent flying his way, he leapt into a roundhouse kick. The target putty ducked under it, but the one next to it didn't, and he used the momentum of the kick to swing his leg low to finish it off.

He'd only just straightened before he was forced to duck again, to avoid another putty fist that ghosted close enough to his head to touch his hair. The same putty tried to hit him with its arm, so he grabbed it and used it as a counterbalance to land another kick on the putty behind him. With a quick twist of his arm, he sent the putty he'd grabbed to the ground, and in one fluid motion ducked under another arm and turned a spinning kick on another putty. Whether it was the force of the kick, or the usual putty weirdness, Adam didn't know, but the last putty went sliding backwards up the slide.

That was about when Rocky showed up, but it was also when Zedd's pachinko monster arrived. They all morphed, and Adam silently prayed that they could take the thing down quickly.

Apparently, though, no one was listening to his prayers. Within a matter of minutes, his friends went down, blasted by the Pachinko monster into giant pachinko balls. And Rocky just stood there, jumping and clapping like it was the most fun he'd had in years. Adam had never hated Lord Zedd more; this wasn't Rocky at all, watching his friends fall. It was Zedd's fault, and he would make him pay for it.

"We gotta stop this guy, and fast!" Tommy said as they both rolled clear of Pachinko-head's blast. It was all Adam could to do push himself to his feet next to Tommy, but he managed.

"Yeah," he agreed. If for no other reason than that he wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to stay on his feet.

"Don't be a stranger," the monster taunted as he trounced one of the ball bearings he'd turned the Rangers into, "play 'kick the ranger'!"

"How about we play kick _you_ off the planet?" Tommy retorted.

But the pachinko monster didn't reply. He was too busy kicking the ball that Adam was pretty sure had Kimberly's face on it back and forth with Rocky.

"We've got to get those balls!" Tommy shouted.

Adam knew that, but he also knew that there was a low chance of success. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew that Tommy would be a bigger loss than him at the time. He could hardly keep up with Tommy as it was; he didn't think he'd hold out for long at all if it was just him.

He wasn't going to like this, but he didn't see he had much of a choice. "Okay!" he said. "I'll do it!"

"No, Adam—" Tommy reached for him, but it was too late. Adam was already moving towards Zedd's monster. Launching himself into the air, he aimed a kick for the center of the thing's mass, hoping to at least knock it off balance. It did reel back a bit, but Adam knew it wasn't enough.

The last thing Adam saw was Rocky playing off to the side, uninterested in his impending failure, before he was blinded by a flash of light.

Rocky wasn't sure how, but he was suddenly standing in the Command Center. "One down, four to go!" Alpha proclaimed, as Rocky stared down at his hands. Everything felt so distorted; he could sort of remember being in the park. There were putties, and a monster, but he didn't remember being afraid.

Rubbing at his eyes, Rocky looked up at Zordon. "What happened?" he asked. Surely Zordon would know.

"You were placed under a spell by Lord Zedd," Zordon explained. "Which forced you to neglect what was important, and desire only what was fun."

Zordon's words triggered something, and he felt a sting in his chest. _Neglect what was important_. He'd neglected Adam. He could see him, in his head, see the hurt in his eyes as for some strange reason, he told him to go away. It was the curse; he knew it was the curse, but that didn't make it any better. And then he'd just stood there, while Adam stared down that monster. He'd let him get turned into one of those pachinko balls, and he hadn't even lifted a finger to stop it.

His self-hating mental rant was cut short by Zordon. "Behold the viewing globe," the being commanded, and Rocky turned. There was Zedd's monster, the thing that had helped Zedd trick him into betraying his friends. Into betraying Adam. "Pachinko-head turned everyone but Tommy into pachinko balls. Tommy was trying to stop the monster while we worked to return you to normal."

In other words, Tommy (and everyone else) had been working like mad while he was goofing off. Guilt surged in his chest, and he shook his head at himself. "It's all my fault," he muttered.

"Stop blaming yourself," Alpha said. "And don't worry; we'll get the others back."

The encouragement meant more to Rocky than Alpha knew, and with a nod, he pulled out his morpher and got ready to join Tommy in the fight.

Adam didn't know how it happened, but somehow, he and all the others were in the Command Center. They all let out sighs of relief – Adam subtly put his hands to his ribs as they protested the strain – and Billy smiled.

"Well, it's sensational not to be spherical," he said. Adam felt his lip quirk upward at his nerdy friend, and he let his hands fall to his hips.

"Hooray!" Alpha cheered. "I'm good!"

"Yes you are, Alpha. Thanks," Aisha said sassily, glancing back at Adam.

The mood was ruined when Zordon spoke. "Rangers, Lord Zedd is about to take over the city. Zedd's monster damaged Tommy's zord. Tommy is all right, but his zord needs to be recharged. I've already sent Rocky to take his place; you must go help him."

Adam and Aisha exchanged a look, and Adam prayed he didn't look half as panicked as he felt. Rocky was out there by himself, fighting this thing? At least he was over the spell, though.

Well, the longer they waited, the longer Rocky would be out there by himself. "Let's do it," Adam said.

"It's morphin' time!"


	6. Rocky Just Wants to Have Fun pt 2

Episode: During Episode 92, "Rocky Just Wants to Have Fun"

Adam didn't think he'd ever been so sore in his life. Between his father last night, the fight with Pachinko-head, and that Serpentera….He'd hit the ground hard when they'd been thrown from their zords.

He'd been pointedly ignoring the other rangers since they'd returned from the Command Center. It wasn't that he didn't want to see them; he just didn't want _them_ to see _him._ After the fall, he couldn't hide the limp in his leg, and the scabs on his back and hands had torn open.

Since Rocky, Adam, and Aisha were in the Youth Center, and Tommy had taken Kimberly to the movies, he thought that the park would be the safest bet to get away from it all for a while. He just needed a little while to breathe and to think, and maybe to finally catch out on some of those z's that had evaded him last night.

He settled down at the base of his favorite tree and let his eyes slide closed. The pressure of the tree against the scrapes on his back made an unpleasant burning sensation ripple up and down the skin, but compared to the utter _relief_ of finally getting to sit down and relax made it all worth it.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, though, a noise caught his attention. At first, it was faint, on the edge of his fading consciousness, but all too quickly, it became clear. It was the sound of putties.

He tried to rise to his feet, but in his short time by the tree, his knee had stiffened. He slipped down, his back raking painfully against the bark of the tree, but he caught himself this time and pushed himself back up.

It was a good thing he got upright when he did, because those putties didn't look too keen on waiting. There had to be a good eight or nine of them, and they all rushed him at once. He managed to dodge out of the way of the swing the first putty sent at his head, only to turn into a kick from another one. He dropped to the ground, his legs split so that the putt's kick went over his head. Before any of the others could get a hold of him, he rolled sideways and back onto his feet.

Just in time to get punched square in the cheek by one of Rita's drones. It hit him hard enough to snap his head to the side and sent his body twisting in the air. He landed hard on the ground, and had to tumble over his head to keep from having a putty land on his head.

He was already out of breath. Each movement got harder and harder, and his whole body was on fire. Fighting like this – _dodging_ like this, more like – wasn't going to work. He was too weak, and there were too many of them. He had no choice.

"It's morphin' time!" he shouted, pulling his morpher from his belt. He felt the familiar uniform take the place of his jeans, black t-shirt and plaid vest, but somehow, he knew this wasn't going to be enough. The putties were still coming, and he was still hurting. The suit couldn't take away all the damage he'd suffered in the past forty-eight hours, but he hoped it would be enough to keep him on his feet.

_Then again_, he thought as a kick sent him flying into his favorite tree, _probably not_.

Rocky made his way into the Youth Center, his bag strung over his shoulder. It was a good thing he'd been able to reschedule the karate lesson for later in the day; he would've felt awful if she'd had to miss practicing before her belt test.

As he walked in, though, he didn't see his student. Instead, he saw Billy and Aisha up near the juice bar, surrounded by advanced mathematics books. He decided to join them, nodding as they noticed him making his way up to their table. "Hey guys," he greeted.

"Hey, Rocky," Aisha said. "You gonna hit the books with us?"

"Uh, right after karate class," he said, pointing over to the mats.

He watched as Aisha and Billy shared a glance, and then Billy spoke. "Now, are you sure you just don't want to have fun?"

Even though he could tell Billy was just teasing him, he still had to admit he deserved that. "I learned my lesson," he said. "There's a time for work, and a time for play."

Aisha nodded. "There's an old saying that goes, 'all play and no work can make a person a _real_ jerk'."

"Or something like that," Billy chuckled.

Right about then, his student came running up to him, her tiny feet sliding across the tile. "I'm all warmed up and ready, Rocky," she said cheerfully.

"All _right_!" he said. "I'm gonna go practice with Kayla, and then I'll be back."

Just as he was about to take Kayla out to the mats, Ernie's pachinko machine appeared back on the juice bar. Ernie called him and told him, but all it took was one glance at Kayla and he shook his head.

"No thanks. I've got more important things to do."

Judging by the rounds of smiles, it seemed like that was the right thing to say. Satisfied that he was back in his teammates' good graces, he started working with Kayla on her qualifying katas.

He had just made it through one round of practice with her when the beeper at his wrist started to go off. If ever there was a time for him to swear, that would've been it, but when duty called…

Kneeling down on the mat in front of Kayla, he tried really hard not to frown. "Hey, I've got to go, okay? But your katas are all perfect. You're definitely ready to take the test."

"You're not going to play a game again, are you?" she asked suspiciously.

Rocky quickly shook his head. "No, I'm not. I promise, I wouldn't leave if this wasn't really, _really_ important. But you'll do great, okay?"

After a moment's hesitation, Kayla smiled and nodded. "Okay, Rocky!" she said. With one last ruffle of her pig-tailed hair, he stood up and jogged over to the others. Billy and Aisha were already on their way into the hall, and he followed them.

"What's up, Zordon?" he asked as they all huddled in around him.

_"There's trouble in the park. Lord Zedd has sent putties to attack Adam while he is alone. Rangers, he needs your help." _

He really didn't even need to say that much. He had Rocky at "attack Adam" and the red-clad teen was tearing down the hall before Zordon even finished speaking.

Tommy and Kimberly were teleported to the park, and Rocky, Billy, and Aisha caught up to them just in time.

"It sounded urgent," Tommy said. "We should morph."

Rocky was in full agreement, and without so much as breaking their stride, they morphed. They could hear the fight now, at the top of the hill, and that was where they ran. Rocky was ahead of all of them, his long legs and desperation carrying him up the hill faster than ever before.

Tommy had been right to think it was urgent. Rocky had never seen this many putties sent to one place – not without one of Zedd's master plots behind it. And to think Adam had been fighting them all by himself….

And that was when he saw Adam. The youngest member of the Rangers was being held between two putties while another beat its clay-molded fist into his stomach. From what Rocky could tell, he wasn't moving.

"Adam!" he shouted, throwing himself into the fray. It didn't matter how many putties there were, they couldn't hope to stand between him and rescuing his Adam. The other Rangers joined the fray, too, and putty by putty, he made a path to Adam. Grabbing the one that had been using the Black Ranger as a punching bag, he jammed his fist into the Z on its chest. It hadn't even hit the ground before he was on the others. He wrapped his arms around Adam, and sent each of his captors flying with a kick to the Z's on their chests.

"It's okay, babe, I've got you now," Rocky told him. It was obvious Adam was in no condition to fight, so he helped him over to the tree. "I've got to go help the others, but I'll be right back."

If Adam heard him, he didn't give any indication. He was still sitting against the tree in the same position Rocky had left him as Rocky ran off to rejoin the fray.

While their numbers had been absurd for one person, they were no match for five morphed Rangers – one of whom was darn near murderous – and soon, they were all dispatched.

The moment the last putty hit the ground and broke into parts, Rocky ran back over to the tree. He was relieved to see that Adam _had_ moved this time; he was standing by the tree, one hand braced against it.

All the Rangers ran over to him, and powered down. For some reason, though, Adam stayed in his uniform. Even from where he was standing, Rocky could see his chest heaving with short, uneven breaths, and his legs were shaking.

"Adam?" he asked gently, walking up to him. He reached a hand out for him, but Adam backed up.

"Leave me alone," Adam said. It didn't sound like him, though. It was his voice, yes, but the tone…it was soft, frantic, like he was scared of something. But that didn't make sense. They had gotten rid of all the putties.

Tommy seemed to be thinking along the same lines, as he too stepped towards the Black Ranger. "Hey, man, it's fine now. We took care of the putties."

"Yeah," Rocky said. He reached for Adam again, but the moment his hand settled on the fabric of his uniform, Adam shoved him.

"Don't touch me!" he snapped.

Aisha was taken aback by her friend's behavior. "Do you think Zedd might have cursed him?" she asked.

But Rocky shook his head. If he was cursed, that putty wouldn't have been beating the tar out of him. Knotting his eyebrows, he took another step towards Adam. "Adam, why don't you go ahead and power down?" he said. He needed to be able to see his face. He could read Adam's face; there was nothing he could do through the helmet.

Adam shook his head, though. One of his arms was wrapped around his middle and the other was held out like he was trying to balance himself. Rocky didn't know why, at first, but with the next step Adam took, he figured out. The Black Ranger had tried to turn, presumably to walk away, but the moment he put pressure on one of his legs – the left one, Rocky noticed – it seemed to crumple beneath his weight.

The strangest thing was…he didn't catch himself. Adam was the most graceful guy he'd ever seen, and yet, he just face planted on the ground.

Rocky was the first one at his side, and Tommy wasn't far behind. The others stayed back, watching as Adam started to push himself up.

He was stopped by two pairs of hands, but not because they forced him. No, the moment their hands touched his back, he froze, because any more effort pushing against them would just make it hurt worse.

"Hey, why don't you lie down for a second?" Tommy coaxed. Both he and Rocky had hands on his chest, and as gently as they could, they pushed Adam onto his back.

"I just need to think," Adam protested, batting uselessly at his friends' hands. "I'm fine, I just wanted to think."

To the untrained ear, he would've sounded calm. Rocky had known him too long for that, though. He could sense as much as hear the rising hysteria in his boyfriend's voice, and he could feel his own heartbeat quickening because of it. Something had Adam spooked, and something told him it wasn't the putties.

He couldn't tell anything with this uniform. "You don't need the uniform to think," he told him. "Just power down, okay Adam?"

Pushing back on the grass with one hand, Adam tried in vain to sit up. "I can't," he muttered.

Rocky and Tommy looked at one another. "What do you mean you can't, man?" Tommy asked. "What's wrong?"

Adam shook his head. "Nothing's wrong," he insisted, his voice wavering unsteadily. "I'm fine."

Somehow, Rocky didn't think that was the case. All the same, "Please don't freak out on me," he warned, and then reached for the morpher at Adam's waist. Adam saw what he was doing, and, well, he freaked out. Luckily, Tommy was ready, and before Adam could shove Rocky's hands away, Tommy grabbed his wrists.

"Let go!" Adam shouted, doing his sporting best to wrench his wrists free.

Tommy held firm, though. "Take it easy, man. We're just trying to help you."

Meanwhile, Rocky searched for the triggers on Adam's morpher to release the power coin. It was the only way he knew how to force him to power down, short of hurting him, and frankly, he was afraid Adam was already hurt.

Finally, he found what he was looking for, and with a single fluid motion, he removed the power coin from Adam's morpher. Immediately, the uniform disappeared, leaving Adam in his vest, t-shirt, and dark blue jeans. Rocky tossed Aisha the morpher and the coin – surely Adam would trust her to take care of it, and his hands were sort of full at the moment – and then turned his attention back to Adam.

What he saw nearly broke his heart. Adam was still trying to get his hands out of Tommy's grip, one leg bent like he was trying to himself back. None of that mattered, though; no, what mattered were the tears welling over the corners of his eyes, and the miserable twist of his face.

"Just leave me alone!" he shouted angrily. He gave another twist, but the moment he did, both Tommy and Rocky could see him freeze. His eyes went wide and a strangled noise broke from his throat.

Tommy let his hands go immediately, and Adam started trying to push himself up. "Take it easy, Adam," Tommy insisted. "Are you hurt?"

Adam shook his head, but Rocky fixed him with a pointed look. "Where're you hurt, babe?" he asked. After Adam's freeze up – not to mention that yelp that Rocky knew all too well – it wasn't a question of _if_ he was hurt, but _where_.

Rocky could tell Adam was getting ready to deny it again, but under the weight of Rocky's gaze, he finally let out a defeated sigh.

Adam brought his hands to his face, rubbing his scraped palms into his eyes. "My back," he mumbled shakily.

"All right, Adam. Do you think you could sit up, if we helped you? Or would that make it worse?" That was Tommy; he was always in control of a situation, even as the sparks of panicked concern in Rocky's eyes reflected in his.

"It's fine," Adam muttered. He dropped his hands from his eyes and braced them against the ground with the intention of pushing himself up, but he was stopped.

"Let us help, okay?" Rocky said. He and Tommy each put a hand on one of his shoulders and slowly eased him up. Adam winced, and let his leg slide back to the ground. It didn't escape Rocky's notice how he kept his shoulders squared and his torso straight. At least that meant it probably wasn't his spine or anything; it made him think that there was something wrong with his stomach, though. He wouldn't doubt it, either, what with the way that putty had been pounding him.

"Can you get his vest off?" Aisha suggested. She, Billy, and Kimberly were standing by the tree Adam had been leaning against only moments before, looking on worriedly.

"Good idea," Tommy said, and went to help him with it, but it seemed Adam had already beaten him to the punch, shrugging out of the plaid vest.

The moment it was off, Rocky felt his stomach jump into his throat. The outside of the vest was normal, if a little grass-stained, but in the inside, there was a massive, rusty-red smear.

"Is that what I think it is?" Kimberly asked. She sounded a little faint, but at least she didn't look as bad as Adam. He was normally pale, but now he was just ghastly.

"I didn't think it was bleeding that bad," he said.

"Didn't think what was bleeding that bad?" Tommy asked.

Rocky was the one ahead of the game on this one, though. As gently as he could, he took hold of the hem of the back of Adam's black t-shirt, and pulled it upwards. Luckily, he wasn't the squeamish type, because there were times when it the shirt seemed to stick to his skin.

When he finally got the shirt bunched up over Adam's shoulders, though…well, there were limits to how un-squeamish a guy can be when his best friend and boyfriend's back looked like it had been taken through a paper shredder. Long scratches of varying depth and severity reached from the jutting bone in the center of the back of his neck all the way down to disappear beneath the waistband of his boxers. The scratches looked to be the worst on his shoulder blades and the pronounced bones of his spine, and those were the ones that seemed to be weeping the most blood.

"Adam," Rocky breathed. "What…what happened?"

"Fell down my front steps and scraped it up a bit," was Adam's reply. There was some color back into his face now, but only because his cheeks were bright red. He looked utterly miserable, his shoulders slumped like he was trying to make himself smaller.

"Why didn't you say any—" Tommy paused. He'd been trying to help Rocky peel Adam's shirt from the caked blood, and in the process had lifted up some of the black fabric in the front. There wasn't any blood in the front, but there was plenty of color. It seemed like his whole rib cage was black and blue, and his stomach was bright, bright red, no doubt thanks to that putty's beating. "Hospital," he announced shortly. "C'mon, man, we're taking you to the hospital."

But when he started to stand up, Adam shrugged his arm loose. It wasn't as hard, now that Tommy's fingertips were slick; they all preferred not to think about what it was slick _with_.

"I don't need a hospital," he muttered. "It looks worse than it is."

"We all certainly hope that's the case," Billy said, "but I think Tommy's suggestion is valid." Kimberly and Aisha nodded both their agreement as well.

Obviously outnumbered, Adam looked to the only person he thought would take his side. "Rocky, please," he said. "Alpha can patch me up. I _can't_ go to a hospital."

There was something desperate in his voice, some hidden meaning that struck Rocky at the plea. Adam wasn't telling them something, but then, it hardly seemed the time to try to force the answer out of him.

Rocky had never really had problems being the decision-maker, but now…this was way beyond him. If Adam was lying, if the injuries were really bad, then he needed a hospital. At the same time, he didn't want to be the one to make him go if there was a real reason for him not to.

He frowned. "You'll let Alpha take a look at you?" he pressed.

Adam nodded.

"And if there's anything life-threatening or anything, you know I'll drag you to the ER myself."

There was a little more hesitation this time, but Adam nodded again. Rocky got the feeling he'd agree to anything, as long as he didn't have to go to the hospital.

Everyone was looking at Rocky, now, and after a long moment, he sighed. "We should go to Alpha first," he said finally. "We'll see what he and Zordon say."

Maybe Rocky was mistaken, but he could've sworn he saw the slightest bit of tension leave his boyfriend.

Tommy didn't look particularly happy about the decision, but he trusted Rocky. If anyone knew Adam, it was him. Nodding to his friend, he stood and raised his communicator. "Zordon," he said.

_"Yes, Tommy?"_ came Zordon's reply after a long moment.

"We need you to teleport us to the Command Center. Adam's hurt, and we need Alpha to have a look at him."

_"Prepare for teleport," _was Zordon's prompt reply. Tommy only just had time to glance down at Rocky, to make sure the other still had a hold of Adam, before they were teleported to the Command Center.


	7. Rocky Just Wants to Have Fun pt 3

Episode: Directly After Episode 92, "Rocky Just Wants to Have Fun"

In a flash of color, the Rangers appeared in the Command Center. Adam was still sitting on the ground, supported by Rocky's hand on the only un-shredded region of his shoulder.

"Adam, Alpha has prepared the lab for your arrival," Zordon said.

"Lab?" Rocky asked. He had no idea that there was a lab here in the Command Center. Sure, it made sense there would be one, but he'd never seen anything outside where they were standing now.

Billy stepped forward, though. "I know where it is," he said, and started past the viewing globe. Sure enough, there was a light emanating from the back wall there. Tommy recognized it as where he'd been taken to receive his White Tiger powers.

Though Billy took the lead, the others stayed back out of the way. It seemed like Rocky and Tommy were as much help as Adam would tolerate, and even then, he was adamant to accept as little as possible. As soon as the two older boys had helped him onto his feet, he brushed them off. "It's really not that bad," he insisted awkwardly. "I can walk."

By then, everyone had accepted that it wasn't just Adam being difficult; he was genuinely uncomfortable with the attention everyone was paying him. He looked absolutely miserable, and not just from the pain he had to be in, and though he'd calmed down a little bit from his earlier hysteria, it was still lurking just beneath the surface.

Of course, Adam was trying to play the whole thing off. To prove his point – that he wasn't hurt that bad – he started after Billy.

He only made it one step before he fell. His leg, the one he'd strained when he landed on the stairs the night before, just refused to hold his weight any longer. Instead of hitting hard ground, though, he was caught by a pair of strong arms.

"I've got ya, bro," Rocky told him, and before Adam could protest, he slipped his arm around Adam's waist and pulled his arm over his shoulder. As he started to take the first step, Rocky found he was supporting most, if not all of Adam's weight with every other step, but it didn't matter. It wasn't a long walk back to where Billy had disappeared, and Adam was lighter than a guy his age had any right to be. Even if he had been heavy has Bulk, though, Rocky wouldn't have cared; he'd always be there to help his Adam.

"Rocky…" Adam protested, but it lacked his earlier fire. Being honest with himself, he knew he was pretty much up the creek. Even with help, walking was be a lot more pain than he felt like putting up with. Even though Rocky's arm against his scraped back made it twinge a little, it was still better than even _trying_ to straighten his knee.

Doing his best to ignore the warm wetness against his arm from Adam's back, Rocky smiled at him. "I know," he said, "you'll get back at me for this later."

Adam was too tired to argue, and if he was being honest, having Rocky's arms around him was probably the highlight of his last two days. So, with a halfhearted nod, he let out the barest hint of a chuckle. "Yeah, we'll go with that."

Rocky didn't get a chance to reply before they reached the door. Tommy, who had been walking behind them just in case, came up to stand on Adam's other side so that they could help him hop with his good leg over the threshold.

"Hang on, man, we're almost there," Tommy said as Adam winced. There was a med table just a few yards into the room, and Alpha and Billy were already there waiting by it.

With a few more steps from Tommy and Rocky, and a few more hops from Adam, they made it to the table. Turning, the older boys didn't let go of Adam's arms until he was seated on the table.

Tommy backed off, then, but Rocky didn't make any move to. He figured Adam's shirt had to come off sometime for Alpha to be able to get a look at him, and Adam didn't look like he had it in him to take care of it himself. "Arms up," he instructed, and for once, Adam did as he was told without a protest, allowing Rocky to lift the shirt over his head.

"Aiyiyiyiyi!" Alpha exclaimed as soon as Adam's back came into view. It wasn't that it was that _bad_ of an injury – it was a massive scuff, essentially – but sweat and blood had smeared into a wicked-looking mess, and there was a swollen line across the back of his shoulders where Rocky imagined he'd first hit the stairs. "Adam, how did this happen?" the robot asked.

"Fell back down some brick steps," Adam explained.

"And the bruises?" Alpha pressed.

"Putties." The injured ranger nodded to Rocky. "You saw when I first got them. They just keep…piling up." He finished with a shrug, but promptly let his shoulders fall. Apparently, shrugging did bad things to his injured back.

"So, when did you hurt your leg?" Tommy asked. He and Billy had taken to standing by the far side of the medical table, where the controls were mounted.

Given his current, non-walking status, there was no point in denying it. "I landed on it when I fell," he said. He reached down to pull his pants leg up to show off the matching scuffs on his shin, but his ribs stopped him from bending.

"Here, let me help," Rocky said. Sitting down on the medical table beside Adam, he gently pulled Adam's left leg up into his lap. He made quick work of Adam's shoes and socks, and then set to rolling the leg of his mercifully baggy jeans up. Adam let out a hiss; and, once he got Adam's pants leg up to about his mid-thigh, so did Rocky.

"Aw man," Tommy whispered, running a hand through his hair and turning for a moment. Rocky wanted to do the same, but his wide eyes were fixed. Adam's leg looked just as bad – maybe worse – than his back. It was scratched all the way from half-way up his foot, all the way up to his knee, by the same scratches that marred his back. These were even a little deeper, maybe, no doubt because of his bony shins and the added weight.

His knee was the worst, though. The scratches were made worse by swelling that had made it so that Adam's normally-pronounced knee cap was almost impossible to see.

"Jesus, Adam," Rocky whispered. His fingers were shaking as they ghosted over Adam's leg. "How long has it been like this?" But Adam could hear the real question hidden in the words. _How long have you been hiding this from me?_

"Just last night," he said quickly. "It was raining, and I slipped. My knee only got like this after we fought Pachinko-head. I landed wrong when it knocked us out of the Megazord."

Tommy's eyebrows knotted. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"You could be seriously hurt!" Alpha chided.

If possible, Adam deflated even more. His shoulders slumped and his head bowed, and Rocky could practically _feel _the misery and embarrassment rolling off him in waves. "I didn't think it was so bad," he muttered. "And with the pachinko monster, it wasn't like we could afford to be a man down."

"Another man down," Rocky whispered. And suddenly, he'd never felt so low. He'd been having fun while Adam was hurting, and he hadn't even noticed. He _should_ have noticed, before things could get this bad. There was nothing he could've done to prevent the scratches, but he at least could've kept him from fighting with them.

As if hearing Rocky's thoughts, Adam turned to him. "It's not your fault. I'm not even hurt that bad, just a little banged up." He paused to yawn, his watering almond eyes narrowing to slits.

"And tired, it looks like," Tommy said.

Adam nodded and, too exhausted to care about appearances, leaned his head against Rocky's shoulder. "Didn't get much sleep," he said. Right about then, he didn't care what Alpha still had to do, how frazzled Billy was, or how worried Tommy was. All he knew was that Rocky made him feel safe. After the days he'd had, safe was something he didn't take for granted.

Regrettably, Billy didn't seem keen to leave him in peace with his favorite pillow. "I'm certain sleeping on those mats didn't impact your condition positively," he said.

"English," Adam groaned. His head hurt too much to translate Billy's dictionary-talk.

Surprisingly, Rocky had a much easier time. He raised his eyebrows. "Mat?" he asked. "What were you doing sleeping on a mat?"

That…was a question Adam couldn't answer. _Wouldn't_ answer. Not right now. He didn't need to tell Rocky what had happened, _especially_ not with the others in the room. They were his friends, so they'd worry about him; they'd feel bad for him, and he didn't want that. He was sleeping in the Youth Center, he could hardly walk, he'd been abandoned by his family, and his best friends had seen him have a break down in the middle of the park. It was all he could do to cling to the last fibers of his pride, and cling to them he would, until they were torn from his sidewalk-scratched fingers.

"I already explained it," he muttered, wrapping his arms around his sore middle. "Ask Tommy." Because he didn't feel like talking anymore.

"You can explain later, Tommy," Alpha interrupted. "I need to begin Adam's scans."

"Of course," Billy said. With one last sympathetic smile at Adam, Billy turned and headed back into the command center.

Tommy was the next to go. "Alpha'll take good care of you," he said. "Feel better, man."

Adam lifted his head from Rocky's shoulder just long enough to nod and wave at the White Ranger as he disappeared. He wasn't looking forward to this…he really wasn't looking forward to this.

Rocky felt Adam against his side, and seemed to interpret Adam's mounting apprehension. "You want me to stay with you?" he asked. "I can stay in here, can't I, Alpha?"

Rocky's heart fell as Alpha shook his head. "I'm sorry, Rocky, but you might disrupt the scans."

He'd been afraid Alpha would say something like that. At first, he frowned, but he replaced it quickly with a comforting smile as he slipped out from beside Adam. His boyfriend's leg stayed straight on the table – he didn't think moving it would be good – and he pressed a kiss to Adam's curly hair. "I'll be right out there, okay?"

Adam smiled lightly at the untraditionally gentle gesture. "Yeah," he said. "I'll be fine."

"Hey now, you're stealing my lines," Rocky chuckled. "Catch you later, okay?"

"Catch you later."

Finally, Rocky turned to leave. Of course, he promptly turned back, stole another kiss, and _then_ made his exit. As soon as Rocky was out of sight, Adam let out the sigh he'd been holding. "All right, Alpha, let's get this over with."

Two hours later, Rocky sat in the Command Center with Tommy and Aisha. Billy and Kimberly had both had to leave – they had prior engagements, and they couldn't exactly explain Adam's condition – but the rest of them had stayed.

Tommy and Aisha were sitting up against one of the control panels, watching as Rocky continued to pace. He hadn't stopped since he'd emerged from the room with Adam before Alpha's scans, and frankly, they were starting to get concerned.

"Should I go talk to him?" Tommy whispered to Aisha. He figured she would know; she knew Adam _and _Rocky better than any of the other Rangers.

Casting a quick glance at her pacing friend, Aisha turned and shook her head. "No, I'll do it," she said. She stood up and somehow managed to intercept her friend mid-step. "Rocky?"

But just as Rocky was about to speak, Zordon cut him off. "I believe Alpha is finished now, Rangers, if you would like to see Adam."

Rocky didn't need telling twice. Conversation with Aisha forgotten, he practically ran into the back room, only to stop as his eyes fell on an unexpected sight. He didn't know why, but he'd thought when he walked in…well, he expected to see Adam up and about and fine. It was irrational, though, he realized. Injuries like Adam's didn't heal just like that.

Still, he was so…still. Laying there on the medical table, Adam looked to be asleep. One of the monitors at the foot of the table was beeping his steady heartbeat while another ran figures Rocky couldn't pretend to understand.

"I've given him something to help him sleep," Alpha explained as Rocky approached the table.

When he got there, though, he found that he had been wrong – Adam wasn't asleep, though he looked to be losing the battle quickly enough.

"We'll come back," Tommy said. Rocky hadn't even noticed them come in, and he turned just in time to see he and Aisha step back out into the Command Center, before shifting his attention back to Adam.

He watched as the younger man blinked blearily, and smiled. "Hey," he whispered, brushing his fingers through Adam's hair. His head had been bandaged for some reason, so he was careful to avoid the white cloth.

It took Adam a second, but then his face split in the goofiest smile Rocky had ever seen. "Hey," he replied. He seemed to notice Rocky's gaze, then, and tried to nod to the bandages. It came out as more of a loll of his head. "Alpha put me back together," he slurred.

"I see that," Rocky chuckled. It looked like it had been quite an effort, too. There was the bandage on his head, of course, and then white bandages that reached from just under his arms to about his navel. He guessed that was for his ribs, and it seemed to cover the worst of the scratches Rocky remembered. His leg was under the blanket, but Rocky could tell it was raised on a pillow or something, hopefully to do something about the swelling. "You're gonna have fun explaining this to your parents…."

Even with the medicine Alpha had given him, Adam's reaction was not what Rocky had expected. He laughed – or, rather, chuckled, because that seemed to be all his ribs would allow – and he smiled wide enough that his narrow eyes nearly disappeared beneath his cheekbones.

Rocky was confused. "Did I say something funny?" he asked.

Shaking his head as much as he could muster, Adam continued to laugh. They were weak, giddy little sounds that barely moved his chest, and Rocky wondered if they were even laughs at all. Sure, he was smiling, but…were those tears?

"Don't have to explain," he muttered, and sure enough, his voice caught. He really was crying, even as he laughed.

It broke Rocky's heart. "Hey, hey, what's wrong? Are you in pain?"

"'s not it."

Rocky noticed he didn't deny it. All the same, there was clearly something else bothering him, and Rocky got the feeling that it was the root of all of this. "Babe, what happened?" he asked. "How'd you get so banged up? Why were you sleeping in the Youth Center?" Because he _had_ asked Tommy, and Adam's story hadn't added up.

Rocky watched Adam's throat bob as he swallowed thickly. He was so close to falling asleep, now, his eyes were closed. When he spoke, Rocky almost couldn't hear him, and he leaned in closer.

"Kicked me out…" Adam whispered listlessly. Had Rocky not been too struck by the revelation, he might've wondered if Adam even knew he was talking anymore. "My dad, he…I dishonored the family. He was so angry…pushed me out the door…can' go back 'gain…don' want me anymore."

Rocky felt like he'd been punched in the gut. All that happened last night, and with Zedd's curse, he hadn't even…Adam had needed him, and he'd let him down.

But before he could apologize – hopefully, he could do more than that; Adam needed comfort and support more than he needed an apology – Adam lost his fight with sleep, and all the tension left his slender form.


End file.
